"Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey"

This is one of those headlines that at first glance seems to make little sense.  When you read the story, you see that is legally true, and probably worth worrying about, maybe.  It turns out that much of the honey sold in the U.S. is actually so highly processed and filtered that the pollen has been removed--which makes it impossible to determine its country of origin.  Why would you care?  According to the article:

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that's been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn't honey. However, the FDA isn't checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey. It is a spin-off of a technique refined by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey - some containing illegal antibiotics - on the U.S. market for years.

 

Food Safety News decided to test honey sold in various outlets after its earlier investigation found U.S. groceries flooded with Indian honey banned in Europe as unsafe because of contamination with antibiotics, heavy metal and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.

There is a little part of me, as I red between the lines, that wonders if there is an actual problem, or if American honey producers are trying to stop overseas competition.  Nonetheless, with the corner-cutting approach that Chinese producers of other food products have taken, I would like to know more about this.